No application for the removal of stones from Ramla – MEPA

The Environment Protection Directorate within the Malta Environment and Planning Authority (MEPA) has said that it never received any application from the Xaghra Local Council or anyone else for the removal of large quantities of stones from Ramla Bay in Gozo. The Authority added that the GAIA Foundation is responsible for management of this site.

The Authority was reacting to a statement issued earlier by the council who have claimed ‘that the council required the permission of MEPA to have the stones removed and that the same Authority was now dragging its feet to issue this permit for works to take place.’

The Authority said it strongly denies that it ever received any application by the council or anyone else for it to remove these pebbles from the site. Furthermore, Mepa said it questions why it is being dragged into this issue, when the Local Council is aware that the site is managed by a local NGO. One of the scopes of having an appointed Site Manager, such as GAIA Foundation, is so that issues concerning the management of sensitive sites, such as Ramla Bay, are addressed in a simpler and more efficient manner.

The Authority concluded by saying that it will ensure that the Site Manager will resolve this issue within the coming days.

4 Responses

The state of Ramla beach is disgusting, but it just goes to show, that he who shouts loudest gets a response and one should not believe everything you read in a Newspaper. The matter should never have got to this stage, the site manager should make regular visits to the sites, so why hasn’t he been doing his job? We will see what happens to Ramla beach in the next few days